George: "I know we have heard lots of talk about the Epic project, when will our staff be able to see it in action?"

Jamie: "We started the first of the three stages of implementation in January"

George; "Of what year?"

Jamie; 2008. (Sigh.)

George: "Why three stages?" Why not do it all at once?

Jamie: (Sigh.)

George: No, really. Why not do a big bang across all of the hospitals at once?

Jamie: "Although the full project over 5+ years has been approved by the Board, we have year-to-year limitations on how much we can spend"

George: "Now you are sounding like a Chief Financial Officer"

Jamie:  (Sigh.) In addition, we realize that we have a "bizillion" patients to care for and other prioirities at the same time. We realized that staging the implementation will allow other organization initiatives to be done at the same time.

George: Like the Clovis expansion

Jamie; RIght.

George: And the ongoing facility investments at Regional

Jamie: Right.

George: And....

Jamie: I think you get the picture.

George: Let's talk more about the stages during the next post.

Jamie: Summer 2009

George: That is when we go live with the next post?

Jamie: No, the first stage of Epic.

George: (Sigh.)